Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik

Three very different young women find their lives entwined in this rather different take on the Rumpelstiltskin tale. Myriam is the daughter of an unsuccessful moneylender who must chill her heart in order to take over the business and feed her family. Wanda is the daughter of a violent drunken farmer, brought up in poverty with her two brothers. Irina is the daughter of a wealthy duke who is valued only for her potential as a political pawn through marriage. Despite their social and religious differences these three have a lot in common. None are considered beautiful but all are talented, resourceful and resilient, which they need to be to survive. They must all battle the patriarchy and rely on each other for support and assistance. Like Novik’s first novel, Uprooted, Spinning Silver is strongly influenced by folk tales and set in feudal eastern Europe, in an agrarian society. The supernatural elements include the Staryk, who terrorise mortals and want to bring winter all year round, and a fiery demon who has possessed the Tsar. Our three heroines find themselves caught between these two powers, in a battle that may result only in bitter losers. Novik does a good job of distinguishing between the voices of the three young women, so the reader always knows which is speaking. This success is diluted when she introduces a myriad of other voices as the story develops. There is not enough difference in tone and it sits oddly when first the little brother, then the nursemaid and finally even the Tsar get a first-person narrative. It may have worked better to put them in third person to help distinguish them from the main three. Neverthless it’s an intricate tale that takes the reader on a wild ride before reaching a satisfying conclusion.